In chapter 15, Katniss finally comes to her senses. She thinks about how Peeta saved her life and she is confused. After nursing herself back to health, she encounters Rue again and they form an alliance. Rue then teaches her how to heal her stings. They talk about their different districts. Rue also tells Katniss about the Careers, who she has been spying on. They have all the supplies and food from the Cornucopia. Katniss asks what if they didn’t, what if the supplies were gone – how long would they last. “I mean, it’s the Hunger Games, right?” Rue says, “But, Katniss, they’re not hungry.” For the first time, Katniss has a plan, an offensive plan. She says, “I think we’re going to have to fix that, Rue.”
In chapter 16, they figure out a plan. In the meantime, Katniss finds out that what Rue loves the most in the world is music – that’s why she loves Katniss’s mockingjay pin. She tells Katniss how she’s usually the first to see the flag that signals quitting time, so she sings a little four-note run and the mockingjays spread it around the orchard. That way, everyone knows to stop working. She tells Katniss that her pin is how she decided that she could trust her. Before they split up to complete the plan, Rue teaches Katniss her mockingjay signal. If Katniss hears the mockingjays singing it, she’ll know that Rue is okay, only that she can’t get back right away. The rest I won’t say, but Katniss ends up losing her hearing in one of her ears. They do succeed though.
In chapter 17, she goes to the place where she was supposed to meet Rue. By late afternoon, Katniss goes to look for her. A little while later, she hears Rue’s song from the mockingjays. She figures that Rue has been singing to them recently so she must be somewhere close. Katniss sings back and then she hears Rue scream. Rue cries out for Katniss. When Katniss breaks into the clearing, Rue is on the ground, hopelessly entangled in a net. She just has time to reach her hand through the mesh and say Katniss’s name before the spear enters her body.
In chapter 18, Katniss shoots the boy from D1 before he can pull out the spear. Katniss frees her from the net. One look at the wound and she knows that it’s far beyond her capacity to heal. Rue’s hand reaches out and Katniss clutches it. Rue asks if she blew up the food and Katniss tells her yes. She then says to Katniss, “You have to win.” Katniss tells her that she will - she’s going to win for both of them now. Katniss stays with Rue. Rue asks her to sing. Katniss hasn’t sung since her father died, but she sings a song that she remembers. The words promise that tomorrow will be more hopeful than this awful piece of time we call today. Everything’s still and quiet. Then, almost eerily, the mockingjays take up her song. Rue’s cannon fires. Rue’s death forces her to confront her own fury against the Capitol’s cruelty, the injustice they inflict upon them. For the first time, Katniss understands what Peeta meant when he said that he wanted to be more than just a piece in their Games. She gathers some wildflowers and slowly decorates Rue’s body in the flowers, covering the wound and wreathing her face and weaving her hair with bright colors. She says goodbye and turns to go. She hears the hovercraft behind her as she walks. That night, Katniss finds the there are only 6 tributes left. Then, there is an unexpected announcement. There’s been a rule change in the Games. Under the new rule, both tributes from the same district will be declared winners if they are the last two alive. The news sinks in, and before she can stop herself, Katniss calls out Peeta’s name.
That was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I loved that Katniss and Rue were allies. Rue is so cute and she just snuggled in next to Katniss when they slept and completely trusted her. She had such interesting stories about her own district, 11 which does agriculture. Most of all, I loved that she loved music. Music is so great and I loved how she would sing to the mockingjays and they would pick up on her song. It was really suspenseful when they did their plan to get rid of the Career’s food supply. I had to read that part really fast to see what happened. Then, I was really sad and upset when Rue died. She was definitely one of my favorite characters. I loved how Katniss sang her “to sleep” as she died and then decorated her with flowers. But I started crying when Katniss did her District’s goodbye symbol (pressing her three middle fingers of her left hand against her lips and then holding them out in Rue’s direction). It’s what the people of D12 did to Katniss at the reaping when she took Prim’s spot. I actually had to stop, put my book down, and cry for a bit until I could start reading again. It’s not the first time I’ve had to do that with books, but that shows that it touched me on an emotional level and I just love that. But anyway, then when we found out that both Katniss and Peeta could live, I was really happy! This section was just great.
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